Three thefts in past week at North Bergen hotels and motel: police

NORTH BERGEN -- A series of thefts that have occurred in the last week at local hotels and motels are under investigation, officials said.

On Wednesday, a 47-year-old resident of Texas reported that his commercial truck, which was parked in the lot of the Days Inn, 2750 Tonnelle Ave., was burglarized, police said.

At some point between 9 a.m. on Tuesday and 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the rear truck lock was cut and decorative materials, along with a color printer, were taken, he told police.

The surveillance video feed at the Days Inn was malfunctioning that day, police said.
A 52-year-old Illinois woman and her 16-year-old daughter were robbed Wednesday in the lobby of the Holiday Inn, 2600 Tonnelle Ave., reports said.

The mother was checking in between 8 and 8:05 a.m. when an unknown male approached the daughter and attempted to speak to her, reports said.

According to reports, the girl refused to speak to him, and turned around for one second, at which point she realized a Prada bag, belonging to her mother, was gone. The purse, worth $1,400, contained two Korean passports, a drivers license, two credit cards, a pair of Calvin Klein sunglasses worth $300, a black Christian Dior wallet valued at $500, and $600 in cash, police said.

Surveillance from the hotel shows two males arriving in a maroon Ford Edge at 8:01 a.m., reports said. The first, a heavyset man with brown-black hair, attempted to speak to the victim's daughter while the second man grabbed the bag, reports said.

The car's license plate could not be determined from the footage, said police.

On Saturday, a family from Haifa, Israel waiting in the parking lot for their rooms to be cleaned at the Super 8 Motel, 2800 Columbia Ave., were also victims of theft, police said.

At approximately 10:30 a.m., the family was sitting under the motel sign on the northeast corner of property, with their belongings placed within their view, when a dark- colored Ford Edge came from inside the parking lot and stopped in front of the family, obstructing the view of their luggage, reports said.

There were three males in the car, and during a matter of two minutes, one of them got out of the car, took two bookbags and a duffel bag, and fled in the vehicle, police said.

A Panasonic video camcorder valued at $200, an LG Touch cell phone worth $300, an Israeli identification card, a credit card and airline e-tickets were among the things taken, the victims told police.